Shoe last



July 21, 1970 v T; CHAT'ZIMIKES 3,

SHOE LAST Filed 06L 24, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY United StatesPatent 3,521,315 SHOE LAST Theodore Chatzimikes, 14 Rue TheophileRoussel, 75 Paris, 12 eme, France Filed Oct. 24, 1968, Ser. No. 770,262Int. Cl. A43d 3/00 U.S. Cl. 12136 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThis invention relates to an improved form of shoe last, particularly ofthe molded type, wherein the improvement resides in the provision of aninterchangeable front or toe portion whereby to permit an instantaneousconversion of the last configuration to conform with prevailing fashiontrends affecting the shape or profile of the front of shoes.

The present invention relates to shoe lasts and particularly to animprovement in molded shoe lasts, the said improvement residing in theprovision of means whereby to render the front or toe end of the lastinterchangeable.

It used to be that shoe lasts were made entirely from wood but in recentyears molded plastic shoe lasts have gained acceptance in the shoemanufacturing trade and are increasing in popularity.

Conventionally, shoe lasts are composed of two principal parts which areconnected for pivotal articulation of one with respect to the otherabout a transverse horizontal axis. The two principal parts being theheel portion and the front portion respectively. It is common practicefor the manufacturers of shoes to periodically have to replace theirentire stock of shoe lasts for the sole purpose of conforming to new andprevailing fashion trends which affect shoe configurations. Each timethat such updating of lasts is made necessary, the manufacturers ofshoes suffer heavy losses and it is particularly such losses which thepresent invention is intended to minimize.

Time after time, the only portion of the shoe configuration which isaffected by changing fashion trends is the tip or front. In recentyears, for instance, trends have variously called for shoes havingpointed tips, blunt or square tips or tips that merely reflect thegeneral profile of the toes. Such radical changes are particularlynoticeable in the feminine footwear industry. Since the toe end portionof a shoe is the only part thereof the shape of which varies from timeto time, it follows that it is also the shape of the corresponding frontend of the last that truly requires to be modified accordingly eachtime.

The present invention takes advantage of the aforementioned practicalobservation in presenting means whereby it becomes possible formanufacturers of shoes to modify their existing sets of shoe lasts bymerely replacing the toe portion thereof by another toe portion which ismore appropriately shaped to conform with a new fashion trend. In orderto be able to do so it is necessary to have a shoe last in which the toeend is removable for replacement by another.

The invention also contemplates means whereby, ac cording to the sameprinciple, and within limits the size or length of the shoe last may beincreased or decreased by inserting or removing gap filling portionsbetween the removable toe portion and the remainder of the last.

For reasons of geometrical convenience, it is found that the bestlocation for the junction plane between the interchangeable toe portionand the remainder of the last is a plane across the widest portion ofthe overall last and tilted so as to be as nearly normal to the surfaceof the last at the top and bottom central portions thereof.

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The separable toe and main body portions of the last are joined togetherin perfect registry with respect to one another through a kind ofmortise and tenon arrangement and preferably through such an arrangementwherein there is only one mortise and one tenon having matching profilesof irregular geometry to ensure that one will fit precisely in the otherin only one way; in order to lock the two together there is provided ascrew through the main body portion and the mortise and tenon joint, thescrew being freely rotatable within the main body portion and threadinginto the toe portion so as to exert enough pull to hold the latterfirmly in position in front of the former.

A better understanding of the invention will be had from the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment thereof, reference being had tothe accompanying drawing of same wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal vertical cross-section through a shoe lastembodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the front half of a shoe lastpresenting a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-section view of same taken on line 44 ofFIG. 3.

In FIG. 1, there is shown an embodiment wherein the invention is appliedto a shoe last having a relatively low arch such as might be used in themanufacture of low to medium height heel shoes. The last proper iscomposed of three basic parts: a heel portion 1, a main body por: tion 2and a toe or front end portion 3. The heel portion 1 is connected to themain body portion 2 through transverse cylindrical articulation 4. Thelast is shown closed in FIG. 1. The pin members 8 and 9 of therespective heel and main body portions are aligned in a plane passingbelow the axis of the articulation when the last is closed and above thesaid articulation when the last is open; a biasing spring 10 spanningacross between pins 8 and 9 and exerting pull thereon toward thearticulation. The spring 10 and pins 8 and 9 are located inappropriately formed longitudinal slots 11 and 12 in the heel and themain body portions of the last respectively.

The massive plastic main body and toe portions 2 and 3 respectively areformed by molding and incorporated therein at the time of molding aresome metallic plugs or dowels 15 and 16 respectively. The plugs 15 and16 have exposed oppositely facing ends in which are respectively formedthe mortise cavity 20 and matching tenon projection 21 or vice versa.

Bolt 22 extends through bore 23 in the main body portion and thethreaded end thereof consecutively engages and projects through theplugs 15 and 16.. It is seen in FIG. 2 that the transversecross-sectional profile of the matching mortise cavity 20 and tenonprojection 21 are identically shaped and of irregular geometry so thatone may fit accurately in the other in only one way.

The bolt 22 has a head 24 which is counter-sunk in the enlarged diameterportion 27 of the bore. Bolt 22 also has a shank portion 25 which isfreely rotatable in the unthreaded part 26 of the bore within the massof the plastic composition of the main body portion 2 of the last.

The plugs 15 and 16 are anchored in the respective masses of the moldedmaterial of the toe and the main body portions of the last; for thispurpose there may be formed in the surfaces thereof which are contactingthe molded plastic material some projections such as for instanceperipheral ribs 30 and 31. In FIG. 3 there is shown an arrangement whichis equivalent to that of FIG. 1, except that it applies to a raised archtype of last such as might be used in the production of high heel shoes;

3 the foregoing description of FIG. 1 would apply to FIG.

3 and for this reason the corresponding parts of FIG. 3 bear the samereference numerals as in FIG. 1.

The difference between the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and the embodimentshown in FIG. 3 is that in the former the bore 23 extends rearwardly andupwardly to open at the rear of the main body portion of the last andabove the articulation 4 whereas in the latter the bore 23 extendshorizontally and rearwardly to open centrally in the sole surface of themain body portion of the last and under the axis of the articulation.

I claim:

1. In a molded shoe last, a heel portion connected to v a main bodyportion and a toe portion removably and rigidly connected to said mainbody portion, said toe portion being connected to said main body portionaccording to a plane extending across the widest part of the last, a setof matching mortise and tenon formed in oppositely facing surfaces ofthe toe and main body portions in said plane, said matching mortise andtenon having matching transverse profiles of irregular geometricalconfiguration, a bore through said main body portion projecting acrosssaid plane centrally of said mortise and tenon and coaxially extendingfor a short distance in said toe portion, releasable bore engaging meansin said bore for interlocking said toe portion and main body portion,and wherein said mortise and tenon are formed in plugs of metalrespectively disposed in said toe and main body portions and embeddedtherein at said surfaces.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 241,136 5/1881 Holden 12133830,168 9/1906 Pierce 12-133 2,874,394- 2/1959 Heitrnan 12-136 3,106,72810/1963 Otto 12136 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner

